Realizing it was the 14th of February, Valentine’s Day, I prepared everything for my great idea. I drove to a local print shop and purchased fourteen sheets of RED letter-size paper. At home again, I cut one long side of a cereal box.
On this thin piece of “cardboard” made it easier for me to cut. I penciled the shape of a heart on the clear side of the cardboard, and then cut around the heart-shape with a pair of scissors to create a heart-shaped template. I stapled four corners of seven sheets of RED paper together, making two stacks of seven sheets each. I carefully cut the seven sheets to form seven RED paper hearts. I repeated this process once again on the second batch of paper. I was pleased to find I had fourteen perfectly shaped RED hearts.
My purpose was to prepare a special Valentine Dinner for my lovely wife
At a local restaurant, I asked the chef to prepare and deliver a special “ALL-RED” dinner by 4:00 pm. I then placed a brief, hand-written note on the floor near the front door, especially careful that the note didn’t get lost or hidden when Soula opened the door.
NOTE: “Please follow this red path of hearts. It leads you to my heart.”
Carefully, I laid the fourteen RED paper hearts on the carpet in the living room, around to the dining room table which I had covered with a RED table-cloth, RED napkins and two, tall RED candles (that I had just lit when I heard the opening of the front door.)
Eagerly, I stood quietly near the table with a RED napkin draped over my left wrist (waiter-style) also, on the table were two plates (I couldn’t find any RED plates or RED water glasses…) but I had poured RED wine into the “proper” wine glasses, along with placing a salad bowl consisting of some lettuce, RED sliced radishes, and RED sliced tomatoes and RED sliced beets, and some other RED stuff the chef had mixed into the salad.
Soula (nearly speechless, and wondering what was next) sat in the chair I invited her to sit in, with me acting just like a well-trained waiter (with a RED necktie). Then, I stepped over to the oven and withdrew a large plate on which were two nearly RED steaks. I placed one steak on each of our two plates and removed the RED napkin from my wrist.
Next, I turned my tape-recorder on to hear “RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET.” We ate and sipped. The evening had a climatic ending.
Bill Thomas of Rowntree Gardens in Stanton is a Veteran of World War II,? and Past Commander of VFW Post 4048,?and American Legion Post 857.?Contact Bill: vvbthomasvets@gmail.com.
